The video then captures the huge explosion (Picture: YouTube/USLaunchReport)

But today’s misfire is likely to slow progress as the company repairs or rebuilds the rocket and satellite, which were both destroyed, and works out what went wrong.

The rocket was scheduled to launch the Amos-6 communication satellite, which included the capabilities for Facebook to beam broadband into remote regions of Africa as part of its Internet.org initiative.

After the news, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said: ‘As I’m here in Africa, I’m deeply disappointed to hear that SpaceX’s launch failure destroyed our satellite that would have provided connectivity to so many entrepreneurs and everyone else across the continent.

‘Fortunately, we have developed other technologies like Aquila that will connect people as well. We remain committed to our mission of connecting everyone, and we will keep working until everyone has the opportunities this satellite would have provided.’